Bacardi Rum Cake

In 1862, Spanish wine merchant Facundo Bacardi opened a distillery in Cuba that made white rum; after discovering bats living in the distillery, it became the logo for the resulting product. But the interesting thing about Bacardi was really from nearly 100 years later.

In the 1950s, the Bacardi distillery grew so wary of the power of Cuba’s military dictator Fulgencio Batista that the company supported the Cuban revolutionaries–while at the same time hedging bets that the revolution wouldn’t succeed and moving more of its production to facilities in Mexico and Puerto Rico. As the revolution started to take on a Communist philosophy, the company changed course and opposed the revolution.

And I think we know how that worked out, more or less. When Castro nationalized the distillery, it started to produce Havana Club rum using a Bacardi recipe; today, that rum is distributed worldwide. Except, of course, in the United States.